The singer and songwriter, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, said on Sunday that he would donate $ 1 million to Ethiopia’s relief efforts through the UN World Food Program.
A recent CNN investigation found that men wearing Ethiopian army uniforms executed unarmed men in Tigray. A BBC-led investigation also published on Thursday corroborated the same massacre near Mahibere Dego, a mountainous area in central Tigray.
On Friday, the Ethiopian government rejected the evidence for these allegations.
“My heart breaks for my people in Ethiopia, as innocent civilians, from small children to the elderly, are being murdered meaninglessly and entire villages are being displaced by fear and destruction,” said The Weeknd, whose parents are from Ethiopia, in their Instagram and Twitter accounts.
“I will be donating $ 1 million to provide 2 million meals through the United Nations World Food Program and will encourage those who can give it as well.”
The violence in Ethiopia has continued since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered attacks on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after Ahmed claimed that the TPLF had attacked a federal military base.
The UN announced on March 25 that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Commission on Human Rights would initiate a joint investigation into possible crimes.
The UN World Food Program stated that “the outbreak of the conflict coincided with the peak harvest season (in Ethiopia), which means that jobs and incomes have been lost, markets have been disrupted, food prices have increased and access money and fuel has become very difficult. ” The Ethiopian government has estimated that 4.5 million people need assistance to “save lives” by the end of this year, the UN said.
This is not the first time that The Weeknd has contributed to a cause.
The singer donated $ 300,000 to the global Aid to Lebanon campaign last August to help victims of an explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people, his manager announced on social media.
After George Floyd’s death last May, The Weeknd also donated $ 500,000 to racial justice groups: Black Lives Matter Global Network, Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp and National Bail Out Collective.
He also partnered with TikTok in a live broadcast on August 7, which raised more than $ 350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative through the sale of limited goods.
CNN Bethlehem Feleke, Eliza Mackintosh, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Katie Polglase and Nima Elbagir contributed to this report.